Psychology Merit Badge
Overview
Test Lab Merit Badge, Verify current status at Scouts BSA Test Lab.
Requirements
- (1) Do the following:
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(a) Define psychology in your own words and explain its impact on daily life.
Resources: Intro to Psychology, High School Psychology, What is Psychology, Major Branches of Psychology
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(b) Identify two famous psychologists and describe their contributions to the field.
Resources: Historical Figures in Psychology, Historical Timeline of Modern Psychology, Black Pioneers in Mental Health
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- (2) Do the following:
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(a) Write a script for a short (1–2 minute) skit that demonstrates how a leader might apply the study of psychology to better lead a group. Share your script with your counselor.
Resources: The Psychology of Great Leadership, 6 Key Psychological Principles of Trust & How it Applies to Leaders, How Psychology Shapes Leadership and Success, 8 Proven Leadership Principles and the Psychology behind them, How to Use Psychology for Effective Leadership
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(b) With the help of others, rehearse and perform your skit for your counselor (in-person or by recorded video). Explain to your counselor the plot and discuss the connections between psychology and leadership that are shown in your skit.
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- (3) Do the following:
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(a) In your own words, define mental health.
Resources: Mental Health, What is Mental Health?, We all have Mental Health
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(b) Discuss with your counselor the concepts of protective factors, risk factors, and resilience for the mental health of youth close to your age in your community. Share ideas about how your community could strengthen the resilience of young people.
Resources: Risk Factors vs Protective Factors, Protective Factors help your child’s mental health, Risk and Protective Factors, Protective and Risk Factors Explained, Risk and Protective factors for youth and their mental health, How Protective factors can promote resilience
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- (4) Do the following:
- (a) For two weeks, create a tracking log and record daily how you spend your time at school, in Scouting, and at each of your other activities with your friends, family, and others close to you. Think about how these things made you feel and draw your own emoji next to each entry to summarize your feelings from each experience.
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(b) Review your two-week tracking log with your counselor and discuss the trends you notice about the activities you did and the emotions you felt.
Resources: Daily mental health check in worksheet
- (5) Do the following:
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(a) In your own words, define empathy and give examples of how you might show empathy to others.
Resources: 10-core-values-to-guide-behavior
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(b) Discuss the importance of resilience and how Scouting experiences develop resilience.
Resources: A Guide to Resilience, Safety-moments/resilience, Try-10-steps-help-Scouts-develop-resilience
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(6) Describe how the Scout Oath and Law help create a community of hope and support in Scouting. Write a short personal oath or law that expresses how you can create hope and support in your troop or community. Explain to your counselor why you chose those words.
Resources: Hope Theory – Make your life better, Fostering-resilience-with-a-culture-of-hope, Hope-simplicity-and-nurturing-a-community-mindset, Duty to God: A core value in Scouting, Why-scouting, Scouting Mission & Vision
- (7) Identify three career opportunities that would use skills and knowledge in psychology. Pick one and research the training, education, certification requirements, experience, and expenses associated with entering the field. Research the prospects for employment, starting salary, advancement opportunities, and career goals related to this career. Discuss what you learned with your counselor and whether you might be interested in this career.
- (8) Complete the survey below to complete the test lab requirements
Resources
Note: This is an unofficial archive of Scouts BSA Merit Badges that was automatically extracted from the Scouting America website and may contain errors.